Rollers of this type are used to support or drive a drive belt on its continuous circulation path.
A known support roller is described in DE 80 24 757 U1. This roller has a hub which by means of two ball bearings is rotatably supported on a bearing journal, which in turn is connected to a machine in which the conveyor having the drive belt is used. The hub is designed as a plastic molded body made of polyamide, and is therefore very dimensionally accurate. The hub may thus be used directly for a rotationally fixed connection to the outer rings of the ball bearings. On its outer periphery, the hub is equipped with a jacket made of rubber which is used as the running surface for the drive belt.
This roller described in DE 80 24 757 U1 rolls very smoothly and has low inertia. However, one disadvantage is that this roller is relatively heavy due to the great wall thickness of the hub.
Rollers are described in WO 98/06649 A1 and DE 202 12 872 U1 which have a roller cylinder, a one-piece hub which accommodates the roller bearings being inserted in a rotationally fixed manner into each end of the roller cylinder.
A generic roller is described in DE 20 2005 004 566 U1. This roller has a bearing core in the form of a hollow cylindrical inner hub which accommodates the ball bearings, and has a running body in the form of a hollow cylindrical outer hub which bears a polymer layer as the running surface, the bearing core being inserted into the running body and being joined to same in a rotationally fixed manner.